The point cupcake mania really started taking hold in our hearts was in 2005 when Saturday Night Live did their "Lazy Sunday" skit. The sight of Andy Samburg and Chris Parnell taking huge bites out of delicious looking cupcakes while rapping about New York City's Magnolia bakery got our sweet teeth champing at the bit. Seven years later, the cupcake craze is still going strong and cupcake connoisseurs aren't afraid to push boundaries with some truly odd cakey concoctions. Here are the five most unusual cupcake flavors we could find in San Francisco.
See also:
- San Francisco's Top 10 Cupcake Spots
- Chili Lime Cupcake Hits Every Taste Sensation
- Cupcake Wars: The Problem With a Cupcake Show Is That It's a Cupcake Show
5. Mango at Cupcake Cove
There are a wealth of cupcake places across the city that aren't afraid to think of outside of the box when it comes to fruity flavors. But Cupcake Cove's Mango experiment is a truly unique treat. Fluffy sponge, topped with creamy icing that's so refreshing and, yes, fruity, it absolutely tastes like they made it out of a fresh mango thirty seconds before you bought it. Unabashedly delicious. The service doesn't always come with a smile in here, but we dare you not to feel happy after trying one of these -- impossible.
4. Nutella Red Velvet at Let's Cupcake
This just-refurbished Outer Sunset sweet spot won Best Cupcake in SF Weekly's Best Of issue earlier this year for its ability to make cakes that are "always spongy, moist, and divine". Well, Let's Cupcake also does a nice line in unusual flavors too. The fact that they add Nutella to their red velvet cupcakes gives you some idea of what next level sugar-pushing we're looking at here, and the fact that they even thought to make Green Tea and PB&J flavors gives you some idea of the boundary pushing involved. They rotate the menu a lot so you're never quite sure what you'll get... but that time we picked up a whiskey-laced cake from these guys still fills us with joy.
After the jump: Booze and bacon join the cupcake party.
3. Jameson Irish Cream at Cups and Cakes Bakery
This super-cute SOMA sweet haven benefits from having a real independent spirit -- the store doubles as the kitchen, so you can see the magic happening before your very eyes. But, truthfully, Cups and Cakes just simply makes exceptional cupcakes, regardless of your tastes. Just check out their full list of flavors if you don't believe us -- these guys are not afraid to experiment. Our favorite, hands down though, is the Irish Coffee. Sure, the coffee cake is good, but it's the Jameson-laced frosting -- complete with tiny shamrock sprinkles -- that's truly to die for. Buy a dozen for the boozer in your life and be loved forever.
2. Maple Bacon at Cako
Listen up, cake-loving carnivores. This is your joint, right here. Because these guys make a bacon maple cupcake that is sheer bloody-minded lunacy. And we love it. The maple flavor is rich, the frosting is creamy and sat atop it all are a few tiny chunks of smoky, smoky bacon. Someone at Cako was smart enough to keep the bacon at a minimum so's not to overwhelm the balance of the thing. Sure, it's weird... but it's also wonderful. With seven Bay Area locations -- including four in San Francisco -- there's no excuse to not take a walk on the wild side.
Next: One of the strangest desserts we've ever had.
1. Bubblegum at American Cupcake
American Cupcake is the kind of delicious wonderland that serves every kind of cupcake you could possibly desire and then ups the ante into realms only a sugar-starved three-year-old could think up. There's a huge array of unusual options here: from Pixie Stix through Butterscotch, up to Cotton Candy. And while the likes of the Animal Cracker and Worms in Dirt sound more interesting than they are in reality, we can say in all certainty that the Bubblegum is one of the strangest desserts we've ever had. The neon pink frosting is flavored so vividly like old school bubblegum, it feels unnatural to even swallow it. Everyone we've seen eat one of these has had an extreme response -- and it usually involves a lot of joy and not a little confusion. You just have to try it.
